Games for Lunch: Call of Duty: World at War

In a nutshell: All the fun of World War II, now with more grenades!
11/11/2008 6:38 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

0:15 Off the beach and into the woods to meet up with another squadron. I'm liking the lighting effects... it's a cool blue evening. I also like the realistic sights and kickback on the guns, and the convincing soldier animations. "This place creeps me out," says one of my teammates. "Tojo's at home in this shit," says another sensitive soul.

0:18 Another grenade gets me. This time I saw the indicator and hit the "throw back" button, but too late ... it explodes about a foot from my arm. Funny how this kills me instantly, but all the bullets barely slow me down, as long as I take cover.

0:20 This time I succeed in throwing the grenade back, which helps clear out the attackers. Then my squadmates do most of the cleanup work while I cower behind cover. I'm ... just fine with that, actually.

0:21 "I want to get through this quick and clean. You hear me? Quick and clean!" I'm glad you said that, sergeant ... I was gonna go slow and messy if you hadn't.

0:22 We come upon some dead G.I. Joes when a flash grenade turns the night bright white and we're ambushed by dozens of Japanese from under leafy camouflage. I shoot first and ask questions later, which seems to work. My squadmates divert a lot of the fire, but still I have to go for cover quite quickly.

0:23 And another grenade does me in. They should rename this game Call of Duty: Watch Out for the Grenade!

0:25 I get past the first wave of soldiers, just in time for another grenade to take me out.

0:27 The ambush has lost some of its impact the third time around, especially since I know exactly where to stand for the best cover and when and where the waves of Japanese will come out.

0:28 I get a little farther this time thanks to some clutch grenade-seeing skills, but I completely run out of ammo for my semi-automatic. I try to reach for a bayonet, but I'm pinned down by turret fire and a squadmate is blocking my access to protective cover. D'oh!

0:29 Grenade.

0:32 Grenade.

0:35 Finally worked my way to the next checkpoint, after avoiding four grenades! We put a hole in a barrel of gas on the back of a truck and then send it down the way into a building. Kablammo!

0:37 Thrilling! Roebuck tells me to plant charges in an explosives bunker. We have to carve through a bunch of enemies to get there, then run out to the boats before the explosion. On the way down the beach I'm hit with a concussion grenade, slashed within an inch of my life, then dragged to the boat by Roebuck. As we sail away on our rafts, the whole island goes up like a powder keg. Groovy.

0:39 Peliliu Island this time ... we're supposed to take an airfield in Sept. 15, 1944. By now we're now known as "the old breed."

0:40 "All right, keep it together and we'll get through this in three days." That's ... a long time! We're driving towards the beach on some sort of aqua-Jeep.

0:42 Kamikaze attacks and gunners on the beach cause carnage all around us. Our jeep gets stuck on coral and sent flying into the water by an explosion. Sullivan saves me this time and yells about a new plan to attack the defenders behind the treeline.